FBI hunts Padilla `partner'

Worldwide alert issued for Saudi

March 21, 2003|By Cam Simpson, Washington Bureau.

WASHINGTON — The FBI has launched an intensive, global manhunt for a 27-year-old man who authorities believe was former Chicago street gang member Jose Padilla's partner in an alleged plot to detonate a radioactive bomb inside the U.S., officials said Thursday.

With the nation already tense over the possibility of terrorist attacks launched in retaliation for the U.S. invasion of Iraq, the FBI urged law-enforcement officials worldwide to be on the alert for Saudi-born Adnan G. El Shukrijumah, who authorities believe lived in Florida.

Authorities said top counterterrorism officials in the FBI were comparing the Western-educated Shukrijumah to Mohamed Atta, the ringleader of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

Adding urgency to the hunt for Shukrijumah is that information about his identity and possible activities stems from the capture this month of accused terrorist mastermind Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, officials said.

Mohammed was the Al Qaeda operations chief and the mastermind of the Sept. 11 attacks, authorities have said. They said he likely knows more about attack plans than any operative in the terrorist network.

U.S. counterterrorism officials have said Mohammed was obsessed with launching a so-called "dirty bomb," a conventional explosive that scatters radioactive material.

Publicly, the FBI said Thursday that Shukrijumah "is possibly involved with Al Qaeda terrorist activities" and could pose "a serious threat to U.S. citizens and interests worldwide."

"He is a really, really bad guy. We are very concerned about him and finding him," one official said.

Other officials familiar with the case said the comparison between Shukrijumah and Atta was being drawn, at least in part, because of characterizations made by Mohammed during interrogations.

U.S. officials have been interrogating Mohammed at an undisclosed location since his capture this month in Pakistan.

Officials also said information about Shukrijumah came from multiple sources, including seized documents and computer records.

Link being explored

The exact nature of the relationship between Padilla, who was born in Brooklyn and raised in Chicago, and Shukrijumah was not clear late Thursday. But three different officials with knowledge of the case all described Shukrijumah as Padilla's partner in the dirty-bomb plot.

Padilla was arrested last May as a material witness at O'Hare International Airport after he stepped off a flight from Pakistan. In June President Bush designated him "an enemy combatant" because of his alleged role in the dirty-bomb plot. He has not been charged with a crime.

Padilla, an American citizen, has been detained in South Carolina, and his lawyers have been fighting for months in federal court to gain the right to see him. He was once jailed as a juvenile for his involvement in a Chicago murder, then moved to Florida, where he served a prison sentence and converted to Islam. He later traveled to Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Afghanistan, acquiring the name Abdullah al-Muhajir.

In a six-page memo, the government has alleged that while in Afghanistan, Padilla discussed plans with Abu Zubaydah, a senior figure in Al Qaeda, to detonate a dirty bomb in the U.S. Since Mohammed's capture, officials have alleged Padilla also met with the Al Qaeda operations chief to discuss the plot.

Shukrijumah also lived in Broward County, Fla., records show. FBI officials said they were trying to sort out details about his time inside the U.S.

Officials said late Thursday that reports he had flight training are likely untrue.

According to the FBI bulletin, Shukrijumah carries a Guyana passport and could also attempt to enter the United States with a passport from Saudi Arabia, Canada or Trinidad. He has used at least a half-dozen aliases, the alert said.

Separately, the governor of Arizona said she deployed National Guard troops to help protect the Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station, which is the largest nuclear power plant in the country, amid reports that there were threats against the facility.

"My decision to send troops was a direct result of a U.S. Department of Homeland Security request relative to nuclear power plants," Gov. Janet Napolitano said. She would not comment "on any specific threats that have been made."

This week, the nation's terror-alert status was officially raised to Code Orange, meaning a high risk of attack, as officials brace for the possibility that extremists may want to commit violence in retaliation for a U.S.-led invasion of Iraq.

Administration's argument

While the Bush administration has sought to make a case linking Al Qaeda and Iraq, and use that as a major justification for the war against Iraq, the evidence linking Saddam Hussein to the Sept. 11 attacks, or to Al Qaeda, remains tenuous or unproven.